Frontier Lift

Whoa. Sweet pics Spit. Thanks! It's great seeing old-school pics on what the park used to look like back in the day.

My fondest memories of the Frontier List: I met my wife on it when she came to ride it on her day off. After that weekend, I moved over to the CP & LE Railroad. Moving to the Railroad was the best experience of my Cedar Point career. I still keep in touch with Randy Catri - the Superintendent. We now even have our own website dedicated to the railroad:

www.cplerr.com

Check it out!!!
*** Edited 9/1/2007 1:34:09 AM UTC by Bill Abele***

superdav said:
Those were the good old days!

If we worked the FT station, we were able to ride to work from the main midway. The part that really sucked was closing the FT station. We always had to walk back on the trail after closing. Most crews were able to catch the last train.

I remember those long walks. Sucks because everyone else got a head start on partying, however, we always got a little extra pay. It still never made up for all the times we were down because of weather and wind.

When I found a those pictures, I also found a picture of me (early 70s) in front of the D.B. Harrington engine. Kind of cool.

Bill and Superdav:

My first year as a Shoot-the-Rapids crew member, I worked late shift. We would scurry around to get all the boats out of the water and shut everything down so we could make the last train and avoid the long walk back to timekeeping. On dance night, that last train would run the fastest it did all day. We would fly by the various "bones" scenes. I'm sure the guests wondered what the rush was.

My first year as a Shoot-the-Rapids crew member, I worked late shift. We would scurry around to get all the boats out of the water and shut everything down so we could make the last train and avoid the long walk back to timekeeping. On dance night, that last train would run the fastest it did all day. We would fly by the various "bones" scenes. I'm sure the guests wondered what the rush was.

While I usually worked the open shift on the railroad, every so often I worked an O-Close and your right, the last train of the day was typically the fastest. Not only to get the heck out of there, but also to burn up the bank and fire so that when we pulled into the yard, all we had to do was fill the tender and go party.

Rapids 77-78

I also worked the late shift on "Shoot the Sewer" in '81 and remember the evening close. I don't think I ever saw any of us move so quickly. It was amazing how fast we took care of business! After being on the Frontier Lift in '80, I really enjoyed the Rapids. It was much more relaxed and fun. I have very fond memories of the break area behind the Stockade. Our sister crew that summer was the Gemini. They were a fun bunch and really knew how to party!

Back in the early 80's, the island that the Lift occupied was known to workers as Monkey Island. Supposedly a monkey escaped from Jungle Larry's African Safari and climbed up one of the towers on the island. They claimed that they had to shut down the FL for fear that it would attempt to climb in the cabins with the guests. They ran several cabins with JL's trainers armed with tranquilizer guns. I was not there but am sure that this was quite a sight!

During the summer that I worked on the Lift, we had mysterious shutdowns that became known as "monkey shutdowns". No mechanical reasons were ever discovered. Park Op even put fluorescent ink on all emergency stop buttons hoping to catch the culprit. When this failed they installed buttons that required a key to reset. This didn't work either.

Being the naive youth that I was, I believed it was just coincidence. Twenty years later I learned that a fellow crew member was hitting the emergency stops just for laughs.

That break area behind the stockade was a great place to unwind, have lunch or a snack from the "roach coach" they would park back there, and swap stories. Too bad those breaks were so short. By the time you used the restroom and got back there, it was nearly time to leave again.

The train crew was who we spent the most time with. It was an all woman crew, except for the engineers. Back then they wore striped jumpers that showed a lot of leg. Needless to say, they caught our attention everytime the train pulled into the station!

Shut downs were not uncommon on the Rapids either. Usually due to a problem on the upper splash pond or a station belt drive not working. But, they could be tense because of the need to get the boats out on the course stacked on the remaining lifts before the water drained out of the flume. Lots of scurrying around to make sure every boat was in a safe location.

Hey superdav,

I worked on the Rapids back in '81 too. I only worked on Friday and Saturday and the occasional Sunday. On Monday and Tuesday, I worked the Lift (my home ride), on Wednesday and Thursday, I worked the Antiques. I did this to get the hours since the Lift was shut down alot due to weather. Unfortunately, the never became part of one crew until 1982 when I became a Fireman on the CP & LE RR.

Rapids 77-78 said:

The train crew was who we spent the most time with. It was an all woman crew, except for the engineers. Back then they wore striped jumpers that showed a lot of leg. Needless to say, they caught our attention everytime the train pulled into the station!

I'll agree. During 1982, we had a great female staff on the railroad. A few of them returned in 1983, but they weren't as great as the '82 crew.

When I started on the Lift in '80 I still wore my high school class ring. I quickly found out that I tore my hands up catching the cabins. In '81 on the Rapids I thought I could start wearing the ring again. The first day we had a shut down, and I was told to go the bottom of the first lift. As the water emptied from the flume the pressure would continue to push the boats that were not stacked on the belts. We literally had to hold them back so they wouldn't climb on top of each other. I'll never forget the pain from the ring cutting into my finger and having to work the rest of the day in a slimy wet uniform from lying down on the deck around the bottom of the lift to get leverage. Needless to say, I never wore any rings to work again. It must have been hilarious seeing all of us pulling back on the boats. If I recall correctly, my area supervisor, Carol Smith, was helping us that day. She was one of the greatest! Carol ended up slimed and wet like the rest of us.

Ah, yes, Carol Smith. She was great. I miss her. Her Assistant, I believe his name was Kevin was not fun to deal with.

^Had to do a double take on that... Carol Smith's my mom! (Obviously not one and the same. The closest she came to working with trains was the Whistle Stop Cafe at Greenfield Village. ;))

Are there still pieces/remnants of the Frontier Lift visible around the park?

The Frontier Town station is still standing near the Mine Ride since it has restrooms below. The station above I believe is used for storage. The cabins are currently on the Sky Ride.

I used to love riding Frontier Lift when I was a kid.

I remember that at night it was very spooky and cool- it was dark and quiet over those woods, and a long ride- much longer than the Skyride.

I was sad when FL was removed. I would rather have it than Mantis and Iron Dragon.

JuggaLotus said:
But if you enclose the frontier lift cabins, where's the pot smoke supposed to go?

Yes, the old Frontier Lift was popular spot for a refreshing break!!!

I also thought that the cabins were currently being used on the Sky Ride but was informed this summer by a "blue tag" that this was not the case. He informed me that only a few of the Lift cabins were left and were smaller than the others. I believe that this is actually backwards. My understanding was that the Lift cabins were larger than the old Sky Ride cabins. Of course, I could be totally wrong.

I'm pretty sure that when the frontier lift closed, those cabins were put on Sky Ride and then those cabins were retired.

Unfortunately I have no proof to back this up.

^This is correct. The original Sky Ride cabins were small and round. I think they only held two people.